A Year Without - Day 21

Today was an exceptionally long day. It started about 3 a.m. with an urgent, too-long bathroom run. (Perhaps the reason I felt so funky all day yesterday is that I was fighting off some bug or another. And perhaps a bug also explains why the 5yo had 2 poop accidents last night when he so desperately wanted to do the sleep over too. Or maybe not. That's becoming expected...)

Then my alarm went off at 6. As much as I know my day goes more smoothly when I can get up and get a shower before my other alarm clock wakes up, I ignored it.

I have no idea what time we really got up. I did get back to sleep shortly after the alarm, and the boys woke me up later. They had raisins and rice milk for breakfast, because I was feeling rather listless.

I took a bath and got us all dressed so we could go get Katie. We finally made it over about 10. I planned to pack her up in the truck and take us all out to an early lunch, since I hadn't eaten and the boys had basically just snacked for breakfast. But I got in and sat down, and had NO energy. And the boys immediately went to playing. Kerry graciously cooked and fed us breakfast, and we talked while the kids played until noon.

Then we headed for the library to pay fines and pick up our hold books. While we were there, I got reminder of Katie's 2:00 dental appointment on my phone. Good thing I was paying attention to it! And double-good thing I had changed the reminder from a 15 minute one to an hour one, or we would never have made it! I really hate making Monday appointments for anything, because in the 3 days between the reminder call and the appointment, there is a 110% chance I will completely forget all about the appointment. And since I generally have a rule about not making appointments on Mondays, I rarely remember to check my calendar on Monday mornings.

I hurried the kids through the automatic check-out. We grabbed lunch in the drive-through at BK, and ate it on the way to the dentist office. (I really need to remember to go back and check their foods for soy oil/lecithin since Sammy has to avoid those too, now!)

Our pediatric dentist is on the other side of town. But we know his family through our homeschooling group, and his office is way cool, so it is worth the drive. Katie got to watch a movie in her chair while they worked on her teeth. They administer nitrous oxide during the treatment, so she was as cool as a cucumber. She has come a long way from our visits to our first pediatric dentist, who did not have cool colors decorating his office or TV monitors on the ceiling, and where I had to coax and cajole her for 45 minutes to even open her mouth. Heck, at this dentist's office, she doesn't even want me back there while they're working on her. I guess I might interrupt her movie. That is just fine with me. The boys and I hung out in the waiting room, where I got some things accomplished via my awesome smartphone, the boys played with the cool toys, and I occasionally read books to them.

I played with GPS navigation on my new phone (have I mentioned that I LOVE THIS PHONE?!?!) on the way home from the dentist. I figured I'd better learn how it works when I actually know where I'm going, rather than when I actually need it. This probably doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but for someone who has been wishing for a phone with GPS capabilities for four years now, and has never owned any other king of GPS unit, it was a dream come true!

We got home just in time to grab the dance bag (Oh how I wish I hadn't dismissed that fleeting thought of "Maybe I should grab the dance bag" on my way out the door at 9:45 this morning!) and let the big kids go potty. B fell asleep in his carseat, so I just left him napping for the 10 minutes we were at home. Then we turned around and headed halfway back across town for dance class.

Since it was the last class before the holidays, moms got to watch. For some unknown reason, I was on the ball during that brief potty break and actually remembered this, and grabbed my camera.

After class I asked if they wanted to go look at a new van or go home. They unanimously voted to look at a van. Even the B was excitedly saying, "Me, van!!!" We went to the Chrysler dealership to look at Town and Country models. I don't particularly want a Chrysler (would MUCH rather a Honda or Toyota) but I was given a set dollar amount that I could spend over trade, and Chrysler is the only one that I can afford all the options I want and still get one that is low mileage. The kids loved the van that we sat in. I wasn't impressed. Too much money for my taste, especially for something that, though looked nice, felt sort of cheaply made. I never expected anything to come of it, though. A new vehicle, even with trade-ins and end-of-year incentives, and me talking them down as low as I possibly can, is still outside of the price range I promised I'd stick to. Plus, we bought the truck I currently drive as new vehicle 9 years ago, and it was such a stressful experience, and the thing lost so much value just from us driving it off the lot, I've proclaimed ever since that I would never buy a brand-new vehicle again. (I do reserve the right to change my mind at any time, but this time probably won't be it.)

On the way home our gas light came on, so we stopped at Costco for gas. While we were there, we decided to get tomorrow's shopping done this evening. Everyone was hungry, so we had dinner in the deli first. Last time we were there, the polish sausage looked suspiciously similar to the (soy-containing) hot dog that I had, so I checked their allergy menu again. Sure enough, the brand of polish sausage that does not contain soy, they no longer carry. Ugh. So much for eating in the Costco deli any more. Poor Sammy had a churro for supper.

We got our shopping done and headed home. By the time we got everything unloaded and the cold stuff put away, we were all exhausted. I left the pantry stuff in the middle of the kitchen floor, and we all trudged upstairs to bed.